


Fire and Shadows

by Phierie



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Minor Violence, Secrets, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2016-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-27 04:12:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6269098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phierie/pseuds/Phierie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aomine Daiki is a dragon hunter from the kingdom of Teiko sent on an urgent mission to Kaijo, a mission that holds the fate of both kingdoms in the balance. A chance encounter introduces him to the dragon rider Kagami Taiga, who may just turn Aomine's world upside down, in more ways than one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fire and Shadows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! So this is a new story I'm starting, a fantasy au for aokaga. Not much else to say here except to jump right in so..! Hope you enjoy! ^q^

When Aomine opens his eyes, he sees smoke. The acrid smell of sulfur and charred wood fills his nostrils; his eyes water from the stinging heat.

After the smoke comes the fire - the skyline is burning, all around him doused in orange flames, tearing through fields, barns, houses. The sounds of people screaming in horror fill his ears and, as if from nowhere people rush past him, pushing against the only one left standing still amidst the chaos.

Aomine’s eyes fix at last upon the great beast at the centre of the mayhem - a huge crimson dragon some 50 feet tall stands atop a barn blowing columns of flame into the air, further staining the sky red. Aomine is frozen in horror, watching as the dragon strenously lifts itself into the sky, beating huge leathery wings through the air.

His instincts scream at him to run but he pushes the thought aside. He feels the pull of duty and knows he needs to protect these people, to remember his training and skills and _do_ something, but his mind draws a blank as he stares at the beast.

As if it senses him the dragon stares back, seemingly morphing before Aomine’s eyes; it grows extra heads, tails, horns and claws, suspending logic and reason, but it seems so real with the heat of the fire on his face and the sound of the creature’s great roars in his ears.

Aomine reaches for his bow and arrow and aims at the dragon’s head – but as he releases the arrow it curves to the side, missing its target completely. He loads arrow after arrow, each one missing until his quiver is empty and Aomine is left with a single broadsword to defend himself against the beast.

The dragons roars – a guttural, monstorous sound that shakes Aomine to his very bones. Blood red eyes fix upon Aomine’s once more, and in that instant Aomine feels all the hope and will to fight drain out of him.

He opens his mouth but he can’t speak, he can’t move his legs to run, can only stand and watch in horror as the dragon opens its mouth again, letting out a great fireball heading straight for Aomine.

The moment before it hits, Aomine wakes with a start.

He stares up at the ceiling, blinking several times to check he’s not still asleep. His heart thuds frantically in his chest as if he’s run from one end of the city to the other, shuddering breaths coming out in short frantic gasps.

_Dream, dream, it was only a dream,_ he repeats as a mantra in his head. But it had felt so real, even with the strange shapeshifting dragon, that Aomine feels seriously as if he had really been moments from death. 

He sits up shakily, runs a hand through mussed up blue hair and tries to control his breathing. After a few minutes of sitting in silence the shock and adrenaline has mostly worn off and he’s left shivering in his sweat drenched shirt, the chill of the night air permeating through the stone walls and filling the small room.

Once Aomine’s convinced himself that it was definitely a dream, a figment of his imagination, and there wasn’t a dragon in his room trying to blow his head off he settles slowly back down into his bed, pulling the blankets over him and shivering into them. He tries to think of anything other than dragons as he tries to get back to sleep, and eventually the exhaustion claims him back into a mercifully dreamless sleep.

 

* * *

 

 

“Good morning, Aomine-kun,” Kuroko says as Aomine sits at the large wooden table in the mess hall opposite him.

“Mornin’,” Aomine mutters into his bowl of porridge, not looking up at his friend.

He hopes he doesn’t look as bad as he feels, but doubts it – last night had been the worst he had in quite a while. Aomine would have thought he was too old to be having nightmares by now, but evidently that wasn’t the case. The details of his dream are foggy now, forgotten to the night, but he remembers enough to remain troubled by it, apparently.

“Are you alright Aomine-kun? You seem a bit pale… did something happen?” Kuroko asks. Aomine looks up to see the concern written over his friend’s face.

“No, I’m fine,” Aomine lies. Of course Kuroko would notice that something was wrong with him; the small blue haired man was incredibly acute when making observations about others. He feels a bit guilty to lie so easily to him, when he knows his friend is only worried, but still. Aomine doesn’t feel like disclosing his troubles so easily, something he rarely seems to do these days.

Kuroko looks up at him with those big sky blue eyes, but eventually sighs and concedes to his friend’s stubborness. “Alright then, if you’re sure. What were you planning on doing today?” he asks innocently.

Aomine narrows his eyes suspiciously. Lately Kuroko’s been unusually interested in his daily schedule – he suspects his long time friend Momoi has put him up to asking so she can keep tabs on him without actually troubling him herself.

Aomine feels anger welling up in his chest that recently his friends seemingly don’t trust him, tiptoe around him as if he’s a sleeping dragon about to wake and unleash hell at any given moment. Then at that thought, he feels guilty, as he knows his friends only mean well, but he just wishes they would talk to him outright.

The swirling emotions rise up like bile in his throat and he feels sick, losing his appetite. He puts down his spoon, shrugging nonchalantly. “Probably just head to the training grounds again... not much else I’m good for nowadays.”

Now would usually be the point where Kuroko offers to join him for the day, and Aomine would politely but firmly refuse, but today Kuroko just looks at him pensively, frowning.

“His Majesty still hasn’t assigned you a new mission yet, has he..?” Kuroko asks, though he already knows the answer.

“No,” Aomine says plainly. “And you don’t have to call him His Majesty everytime Tetsu, it’s just Akashi.”

Kuroko shakes his head, and Aomine would even go as far as to say he looks angry. “I don’t know what he’s playing at,” Kuroko says. “I think it would do you good to go out on a mission again, a lot better than staying cooped up in the castle all day will do. I’ve offered to lend my assistance, but still Akashi refuses, why?”

Aomine lifts his hands up in defeat. “I don’t know what goes through that guy’s head Tetsu, never have done.” Aomine sighs. “But he probably has his reasons, you know.”

“What, you mean about… but Aomine-kun, that was months ago now.” Kuroko looks up at him with a sad expression. “Don’t you think enough time has passed? I believe you’re ready to go out hunting again, at least.”

Aomine really doesn’t need Tetsu to bring up the reason for his suspension, but he doesn’t hold it against him. Aomine’s long since come to accept that he was entirely to blame for the… _incident_ , and now has to bear the consequences.

Even so, he’s glad for the vote of confidence. Normally he would be shouting for the chance to get back into the fray, where he belongs, but he remembers the dream from last night and is left second guessing himself.

“I guess… I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” Aomine says, getting to his feet. “I’ll see you later, maybe.”

“Right… See you,” Kuroko murmurs in reply as Aomine walks off.  

Aomine returns to his room to collect his training gear then walks silently through the stone halls and across the city, not stopping until he reaches the training grounds on the outskirts near the city walls.

It’s another beautiful clear day, the October sun shining favourably down on the city, and Aomine shivers into his cloak when he steps out into the crisp air. As autumn made way for winter, the days would be getting ever shorter and colder, but so far the winter had yet to take over the kingdom completely. Instead, the residents of the city were busy preparing for the long and harsh onslaught they were bound to face in the coming months.

As Aomine enters the training complex, he nods at the page on duty, one of many he recognises from his regular visits.

“A-ah, Captain, good morning! I wasn’t expecting you so early. Shall I fetch your sword and bow?” she squeaks, looking up from her post as he walks in.

“Please.” Aomine nods, the page scurrying off to retrieve Aomine’s possessions.

Aomine starts with archery practice, firing arrow upon arrow at the painted target pinned over a hay bale at the far end of the range. He finds practising his bow skills like this to be relaxing – he loves feeling the way the bow bends and shapes at his command, the way the he can change the arrow’s course from a single alteration to his stance and aim.

He loads another arrow and this time, waits longer, focusing on his breathing, watching the far off target through one eye. He enjoys the way the taut bow string pulls against his fingers and arm muscles, feels the energy through the string ready to pass into the arrow at his will. When the aim is perfect, he releases in time with his breathing and watches the arrow soar through the air and land in the bale with a dull thunk - a perfect bullseye.

With each arrow sent flying Aomine feels some of the tension leaving his body just like the arrows from the bow. Lately he’s found himself angry too often; he’s been unsettled and restless and with nothing to do but lament on his situation all day it only worsens his mood further.

But here, in the training grounds, Aomine feels as free as he possibly can when going about honing his near perfect skills further. Archery is not something that can be done well when tense or absentminded; it requires intense concentration and it helps him clear his mind, washing out the negative thoughts. As Aomine works he feels himself calming, and sees the arrows hitting the target much closer and consistently in the centre than when he first started.

The only way to make the practice perfect, Aomine thinks, is if he had a live target instead of firing at hay bales all day long. As he heads to the open courtyard of the training grounds to practice with his sword, Aomine considers what Tetsu had been saying at breakfast.

If he was being honest, Aomine is dying for the chance to get back out there and hunt some dragons, or whatever it is that needs hunting, for real. He wants to prove himself to his peers once again, that he can be trusted and that he won’t mess up, not again. But also he simply wants to be out there for the sake of it; he’s going stir crazy staying in the city for so long, with nothing to do but weapons practice all day long, certainly without a squad to be looking after.

If it really was Akashi that was the problem, Aomine wonders how he can win over the King’s favour once more.

As he trains he imagines himself out in the field instead of fighting hay bale dummies and practising technique. Aomine’s passionate about archery, but his heart really lies with sword fighting - archery simply can’t compare to the close contact and adrenaline rush fighting one on one with an opponent produces.

Usually when it comes to hunting dragons, it’s wiser to end it with an acutely placed arrow or similar, but Aomine’s had quite a few close shaves when he’s resorted to besting a beast with his broadsword. It’s partly where his famed reputation comes from, and Aomine fondly recalls telling stories of his clashes around cosy fires in the castle to anyone who would listen; usually bright eyed newbies who would look at him from then onwards with reverence and awe.

Those times have since passed though, and Aomine doubts that if this period of inaction continues for much longer his sparkling reputation will still be standing afterwards. Just another reason why he needs to lift his suspension as soon as possible.

As Aomine is ruminating over his thoughts, the sight of a man walking across the courtyard towards him makes him stop his exercise and look over. The man wears full formal mage’s robes, and if that isn’t enough to give him away the green hair and glasses make him easily distinguishable.

“Aomine,” Midorima says curtly, nodding to Aomine as he walks over.

Midorima was the irritable and strict advisor to King Akashi, who generally thought he was better than everyone else just because he knew a little bit of magic. Well – Aomine really shouldn’t be too hard on him – they were friends, in an odd, unorthodox kind of way, and they’d even hunted and brought down dragons together back in the day.  Unfortunately, lately he was far too taken with politics and _King Akashi_ to really care for that sort of thing anymore.

Aomine looks him over disinterestedly, making sure not to give away his curiousity too much. It was unusual for Midorima to seek him out personally, so Aomine is suspicious about what he could possibly want.

“Midorima. For what do I owe the pleasure?”

“King Akashi requests your prescence at the castle,” Midorima says simply.

Aomine raises his eyebrows at the other man, unable to contain his surprise. Aomine is glad for Midorima’s straightforwardness, how he rarely beats around the bush; some would say it’s one of the better traits of the green-haired man.

“What, right now?” Aomine asks.

“As soon as possible, yes.”

Aomine hums quietly to himself, processing the information.

“And did he mention to you what he requires me for?”

“Something about that suspension from hunting of yours, I believe,” Midorima huffs knowingly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Aomine had been suspicious of course, but when Midorima mentions it his heart flips at the small glimmer of hope - maybe Kuroko really had gotten through to Akashi after all.

“Hm, alright then. I’ll head over right away,” Aomine replies. “Thanks for letting me know,” he adds gruffly as an afterthought.

Midorima nods in reply and starts to make for the exit. “I’ve got to get back to work now. Good luck, Aomine,” he mutters over his shoulder.

Aomine is floating on cloud nine as he puts away his training gear as quickly as possible, though he tries to remind himself (without success) that he doesn’t explicitly know what Akashi will tell him yet, so should not get his hopes up _too_ much. He shouts to the page on duty to put away the rest of his gear and then walks back to the castle, following the route he took in the morning, only in reverse.

When he reaches the castle he heads this time not for the mess hall, but for the inner castle.

The castle of Teiko’s capital was a huge stone fortress that housed the majority of the military stronghold for the city, with the exception of extra barracks and establishments like the training grounds that were spread out further. The inner castle however, was a much more lavish and grand area appropriate of the word castle, with great halls, courtyards and gardens.

It was also where the royal family of the Teiko kingdom took residence, and was where Akashi usually met with his generals and advisors, except in more trying circumstances when operations would be held from the military castle’s strategy halls.

Aomine walks purposefully up to the guards on duty at the large portcullis adorned gates to the inner castle, trying to ignore the flutterings in his stomach.

“Captain Aomine Daiki of the Hunters fifth division, here to see King Akashi, upon the request of His Majesty,” he announces himself.

The guards bow to their senior, one of them addressing Aomine. “Ah, captain, we were expecting you. If you could follow me please, I’ll take you through.”

Aomine’s been to the inner castle many times before, but is always awed by the grandness of the place. The tall hallways are adorned with shining suits of armor, lances, swords and colourful tapestries, with plush carpet rugs lining the stone floors.

The guard takes Aomine up to a set of large wooden doors, where he bows again and leaves Aomine to enter alone. Aomine proceeds into the room without hestitation now, not even bothering to knock.

Inside Akashi is seated at a large desk in front of an arched window at the back of the room, piles of parchment and ink bottles littering his desk. He doesn’t look up straight away when Aomine enters, but finishes what he’s working on, signing the bottom with a flourish and putting his quill down.

When they make eye contact Aomine feels a familiar chill, an unfortunate side effect of being in the prescence of Akashi. Even Aomine, who can be crass and inappropriate at the best of times, is compelled into being on his best behaviour when it comes to their intimidating ruler.

Despite that though, the two have been close for quite some time, and Aomine doesn’t hesitate to refer to him plainly, without the formalities.

“Akashi,” he says, bowing slightly, “Midorima told me you wanted to talk.”

Akashi smiles in that slightly unnerving way that he’s so good at, though Aomine thinks maybe it’s a little warmer to him, bemused even, at Aomine’s constant informality.

“That I did. Please, have a seat,” Akashi replies smoothly, gesturing to a chair sitting in front of the large desk.

Once Aomine is seated Akashi continues, his expression neutral, not giving anything away. “I have been thinking, Aomine, and I believe it is time we spoke about your suspension. But I need to know I can trust you. I hope this time out has given you a chance to reflect on what happened and cool your head a bit.”

Aomine swallows heavily; there’s been little else on his mind these past few months. “I have, and I believe I’ve learnt from my mistakes. I promise I will do my upmost to make sure no one under my command gets hurt ever again.”

Akashi regards him silently for a moment. “Good. I’ll choose to have faith in you again, Aomine.”

Aomine lets out a held breath - he heavily suspects Akashi had already made up his mind prior to their meeting; otherwise he wouldn’t have been called here in the first place, but feels a flutter of relief nonetheless.

“I’m assigning you a new mission. You’re to go to Kaijo, as fast as possible, and get this to King Kasamatsu,” Akashi explains, placing a small spherical pendant on a leather strap onto the table in front of them.

Aomine can’t help but feeling a little disappointed at the news, that his newest mission would not be as particularly exciting as he had assumed.

“Despite your recent suspension, the council and I have decided that you are one of our most capable men for the job. I’m taking a risk putting you back out into the thick of it straight away, but I believe you’re up to it. Midorima has been telling me how diligently you’ve been training these past few weeks,” Akashi muses.

_Damn Midorima_ , Aomine thinks. So Tetsu and Satsuki weren’t even the only ones spying on him after all. But if it works in his favour, he shouldn’t really complain.

Akashi nods to the small ball on the table, and Aomine picks up the pendant in front of him to examine it closer. At first glance it’s a regular, dull grey pendant, but when he looks in detail Aomine can see tiny runes scratched all over the surface of the ball.

“Wait, Akashi, this is…” Aomine mutters in understanding.

“Indeed; It’s a secret keeper,” Akashi states. Secret keepers were rare magical items that could have information stored in them and released when the correct spell was used, essentially a more secure type of letter for confidential information. Aomine looks down at the little unassuming ball in awe; he’d heard of the concept, but had never seen one in real life.

“As I’m sure you now have realised, this mission is of the highest secrecy. It is of the upmost importance that you get that to Kasamatsu, and as soon as possible,” Akashi states. “Kasamatsu’s men will deal with the particulars behind the charm; you just need to get it to him. And don’t hand it over to anyone except him personally,” he adds.

Aomine nods slowly in recognition of the weight of responsibility Akashi has bestowed on him. “I understand. I’ll protect it with my life.”

Akashi gives a satisfied nod. “Take the road through the northern territories. Even then it may take a week or more, so gather supplies and a horse and leave straight away.”

Aomine feels immediate apprehension at what Akashi’s commanding – the northern territories were lands of Teiko rarely travelled, almost a no-man’s-land of sorts, with large treacherous mountains where hundreds of dragons and wyverns lived.

He’s been to the outskirts of the mountains before, to some of the furthest towns to deal with the dragons bold enough to venture down from the peaks, but Aomine has never travelled through them before. Usually on route to Kaijo one would travel along the coast, avoiding the mountains altogether; but it was a much longer route, so to purposefully travel through the mountains meant the situation had to be dire.

“And Aomine,” Akashi says gravely, “tensions are rising between Teiko and Kirisaki Daichi again. Be vigilant. Oversee your preparations now,” he commands.

Aomine nods again, thinking of the implications of the simple statement. Relations with the Kirisaki Daichi kingdom and their malignant ruler had been strained for quite some years now, but Aomine tries not to jump to conclusions.

Akashi continues, looking Aomine straight in the eye, his crimson eyes glinting enigmatically. “I will not tolerate failure on this mission, Aomine. Do you understand?”

“Yes Akashi. I won’t let you down,” Aomine promises, his heart heavy with responsibility.

Before leaving Aomine picks up the pendant from the table and ties the strap around his neck. He stands from the table, then bows once more and exits the room.

Once outside the room he lets out a shuddering breath, the reality of the situation dawning on him.

To be trusted by Akashi and the council again was all he could have wished for, but yet the mission wasn’t going to be as straightforward as he first thought. But then, maybe this mission was just what he needed to prove himself again.

Either way, Aomine tries to put his swirling thoughts to rest as he heads back through the castle to the stables.

 

* * *

 

 

When Aomine reaches the stables, he’s greeted to his surprise by Kuroko, who seems to be preparing for a journey himself.

Kuroko looks up as he walks over, his blue eyes widening in surprise and curiousity.

“Aomine-kun,” he says in greeting, “what are you doing here?”

“Same as you, it seems,” Aomine replies. He suppresses a grin but is unable to keep the pride out of his voice when he tells Kuroko of his newest placement. “Seems you were right after all, because Akashi just sent me on a mission to Kaijo.”

“Really?” Kuroko exclaims, not bothering to mask his surprise. “That’s certainly the first I’ve heard of it, how strange.”

“I think only Akashi and the council know the details really, so don’t be too surprised. I’m just the messenger assigned to do the job.”

“How interesting,” Kuroko muses as he fiddles with the fastening on the saddle of the horse by his side. “Are you sure you should be telling me if it’s so top secret?”

Aomine rolls his eyes. “Oh c’mon Tetsu, it’s not like I can keep any secrets from you anyway. Just uh, don’t tell anyone else, mind.”

Kuroko smiles. “Of course.”

“Where are you headed then? Top secret mission as well?” Aomine asks as he walks through the stables to the door of his regular horse.

“Not quite as flashy as that, I’m afraid,” Kuroko answers from the other end of the room. “I’m heading to the northern plains; a squad of hunters on duty there reported a new swarm of wyverns in the area and I’m to be part of the reinforcements to clear them out, apparently.”

“I see,” Aomine replies absentmindedly. Despite his small stature and generally calm nature, Kuroko could pack quite the punch against dragons when he wanted to; his particular type of magic focused on surprise attacks and concealment, but could be devastating when he got serious.

That said, Kuroko wasn’t a hunter, and didn’t especially go out of his way to fight dragons like Aomine did. Just like Midorima had moved on to his advisory duties, Kuroko mainly focused on training of new recruits, negotiations and the like nowadays.

Aomine pretends it’s no big deal, but truthfully it still stings a bit thinking about the days past when all of them - sometimes even Akashi included, back when he was still just a prince - would hunt dragons together, as a team.

But for Kuroko to be specifically selected for the reinforcements, either meant someone had asked for him personally or the situation was worse than usual. Aomine almost offers his help in routing the wyverns but catches himself, remembering his own task that is most likely more important than slaying a few dragons.

As he’s sorting out the necessary equipment for his journey however, something that Kuroko said finally clicks with him.

“Wait Tetsu, you said the _northern_ plains?” Aomine asks.

Kuroko looks confused and slightly irked at having to repeat himself, but it’s Aomine, so really he should be used to it by now.

“Yes, Aomine-kun. I’m heading there right away.”

“Well, that’s perfect!” Aomine says, striding over to pick up a saddle. “We can travel up there together, then I’ll leave you and head to Kaijo.”

Naturally the northern plains were on route to the northernly mountains, with a large town on the border between the two. Aomine had already planned to stop over there, but with Tetsu going that way too they could travel up together.

“Wait a minute – I thought you said you were travelling to Kaijo?” Kuroko asks, perplexed. “You couldn’t possibly mean you’re taking the mountain road?”

“Unfortunately yes,” Aomine states gravely, “it’s urgent, after all.”

Kuroko frowns, pursing his lips as he thinks. “Hmm. I hope Akashi knows what he’s doing sending you alone through the mountains…”

Exasperated, Aomine sighs. “Oh, don’t look at me like that, Tetsu, I can take care of myself. It’s no big deal, really, and then I’ll be back hunting dragons again before you know it.”

Kuroko manages to crack a smile at that. “Well all right, I suppose I really shouldn’t try and stop you. Akashi would probably have my head for that.”

“Too true,” Aomine says, heaving the saddle off a bench and into the horse’s stable. “So let’s get going, shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really this chapter was only supposed to be the introduction of sorts, so I'm sorry it got so long..;; in the next chapter things should start getting more interesting, and Kagami will definitely make his appearance!
> 
> This is the first story I've posted on ao3, so any kind of feedback is greatly appreciated!! Thank you for reading and I hope you check out the next chapter too!


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